For a Genius
by ranma8962
Summary: Gemini contemplates Miss Parker - Part 8End added 7-3. Thank you everyone for making my first attempt at Pretender fanfiction so enjoyable. I hope you enjoyed the story.
1. Default Chapter

First Time  
  
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By Ranma8962  
  
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Disclaimer: Don't own them, any part of them. Drat! =   
  
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Gemini sighed and rolled to his side on his bed, his arm bent up and his head supported on his hand as  
  
he listed to his brother . . . twin . . . father . . . whatever he was, Jarod, talk on his cell phone. He  
  
could hear the echo of his own voice chuckle and turn a little taunting. Gemini sighed again. For a  
  
genius, Jarod was sure stupid sometimes. He can't believe that the man had access to such a beautiful  
  
woman and what did he do with it? He teased her, irritated her, pissed her off and poked at her instead  
  
of doing whatever it took to make the woman leave the Centre and go away with him.  
  
p  
  
Gemini flopped onto his back and stared, unseeingly at the ceiling, his mind wandering back in time to  
  
that moment when he had first seen Miss Parker. He had never seen a woman before. But, he knew  
  
instantly this was the opposite sex. This is what those biological texts had all been about. She was  
  
magnificent, tall, sleek, dark and so very dangerous. Danger flowed off of her like an invisible wave,  
  
like the faint scent of something sweet that lingered in the room. He can remember color, blue eyes and  
  
red lips. He was sure, in retrospect, that he stood there gaping like an idiot but the mere sight of her  
  
seemed to shut down all of his cognitive functions and instead his body reacted instinctively. His mouth  
  
dried, his palms itched, his heartbeat increased and all the blood pooled in his groin. It was fantastic!   
  
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Mr. Raines had pushed her aside along with the trembling man by her side and taken charge of him,  
  
even as he had glanced back at her, unable to stop wanting to look. She seemed stunned and then  
  
started forward, after him.   
  
p  
  
Coming face to face with Jarod had been one more shock, the last one he could take. He stood there,  
  
stunned and when she pushed him aside to chase after the man he had been told killed his parents, all  
  
he could feel was jealousy that she was chasing him, she was interested in him, HIM and not himself.  
  
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They had hustled him away, away from Donoterase and he had thought away from her. He had  
  
withdrawn into that secret place in his head, the place where they could not touch him, a place he spent  
  
a lot of time. It was after this encounter with her, however brief, that he learned the real meaning of  
  
loneliness. An understanding of what it meant to ache for someone else.  
  
p  
  
TBC 


	2. Part 2 Another Woman

For a Genius . . . Chapter 2 - Another Woman  
  
Disclaimer: Still don't own them = italicized dialogue is direct from the televised script and used without permission as is this entire fanfic

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He can still remember his own amazement that the next woman he saw would have such an opposite effect on him.  
  
She had sashayed up to him, sucking a lollipop. Her hair was blonde, but it didn't look real and she had a British accent that wasn't real either. In fact, she presented as a piece of plastic. He can remember feeling uneasy around her as though instinctively aware that she was artificial in every way possible.  
  
"Hello, Luv," she said taking the red lollipop out from between red lips. All that red looked coarse and even now he grimaced slightly at the memory. The way she had looked at him had confused him for years until he had seen a horse sale one day while wandering at a fair with his father. He had recognized that appraising look instantly. That is how the blonde had viewed him, as a piece of meat, something to be bought or sold. He shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself for comfort. Luckily, she hadn't stayed long but her visit had only further brought home how terribly lonely he was.  
  
They had placed him in another cell, similar to where he had always lived. Stark white blended with depressing grey until his whole world was monochromatic. Analytically he had always wondered if that wasn't part of Miss Parker's appeal, that she dressed in such strong colors when he saw her, bold reds and, of course, the cobalt blue of her eyes.  
  
He had been hiding, feeling desolate and abandoned. Those hated and dreaded tears slowly moving down his cheeks. He couldn't stop them, so he had hid. As he hunkered down in the corner, escaping the prying eyes of the cameras, he heard the door open and smelled that faint scent that he recognized as belonging to woman he now knew as Miss Parker. He had peered up, over the cabinet, surprised and elated all at once to see her standing in the doorway, alone and obviously looking for him.  
  
_"I'm over here,"_ he had volunteered, his palms damp.   
  
_"I'm sorry I didn't hear you come in." _He stood up and moved toward the bed in order to see her, hoping she was really there to see him.   
  
_"Do you want me to do something for you?"_ he had offered her his services, anything she wanted if she would just stay in the room.  
  
She was watching him, her eyes kind and unsure. _"No. I just came to talk."  
_  
He sat down on the bed, his knees shaking too hard to fully support him, tucking his hands under his thighs so that she wouldn't see them trembling.   
  
_"Talk? You don't want anything?"_ He had felt disappointed. If she had wanted something from him, something he could give her, than he would have felt important, wanted, wanted by her.  
  
She sighed at his question, making him wonder what he had said wrong and with dismay he watched her shoulders slump. _"Just to see . . . "_ she paused and slightly shook her head. He heard her huff. _"You all right?"_  
  
He heard the curiosity in her voice and became painfully aware of the emotions he was displaying. He sat up a little straighter, remembering his lessons with painful clarity. _"Yeah, I'm fine."_ He wiped the tears from his face. _"Ready to work,"_ he had assured her.  
  
_"You were crying."  
_  
_"No, I wasn't, I just . . . just . . . don't tell Mr. Raines. He gets angry if I show any emotion, it won't happen again, I promise."_ The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could reign them in. Would she tell on him? He didn't want to think so. He wanted to believe that someone who could make him feel so . . . so free, so warm, wouldn't be so cruel as to deliberately bring about punishment for him.  
  
She moved further into the room, bringing her scent, her warmth and her softness. He could hear her softness in her voice. _"It's okay to cry."_  
  
He felt his heart skip a beat. _"No, it's not. Not for me."_ Didn't she understand? Didn't she believe the same things that Mr. Raines had pounded into him forever?   
  
_"I'm here to serve. To do what I'm told,"_ he repeated the refrain he had heard all of his life, earnestly. She must not think he was hesitant to do his duty.  
  
He can still remember the quiet look that had settled over her face at his words. She seemed to draw into herself and he immediately missed her even though she was still in the room. She sat down across from him and he couldn't help but notice the light shining on her necklace, a square of red twinkling at him, showcased by her pale skin and gleaming like a drop of rich, full-bodied blood.   
  
_"Is that what Raines taught you?"_  
  
_"Yes,"_ he remembered replying, entranced with the look of her, drinking in the sight with greedy gulps for his memories.   
  
_"That I've been gifted with the intelligence designed to help others. Mr. Raines said emotions get in the way."_ He had noticed the flicker of sorrow that had crossed her face at his pronouncement. Did she regret his words? The thoughts behind them? Did they sound familiar to her, perhaps? His mind raced with the possibilities, but even though Mr. Raines had taught him about females and what he called their 'convoluted' thought processes, he knew he would never be able to fully understand the magnificent creature across from him. How could he when he could barely think?  
  
_"If you don't want me to work, then why are you here?"_ What could he do for her? Suddenly, anything that Mr. Raines would ask him to do, would be done without hesitation, anything, if it were for her.  
  
TBC 


	3. The End of Memories

Part 3 - The End of Memories

Disclaimer: Still don't own them = Italicized dialogue is direct from the televised script and used without permission as is this entire fanfic  
  
Thank you for the reviews and kind words =

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She had looked at him, her eyes sad and searching. She glanced down and seemed to come to some decision and started to smile. _"When I was your age, I knew a boy just like you,"_ her tentative smile faded, _"**Exactly** like you. I felt for him, but I never let him know,"_ her gaze no longer saw him, but the past, a regret-filled past. _"I saw,"_ she paused, the memory obviously uncomfortable. _"Pain, in his eyes but I looked the other way."_  
  
He had felt the discontentment flowing off of her and it pained him to see her so unhappy.  
  
_"I see the same pain in your eyes but I can't look away anymore."  
_  
_"I don't understand,"_ he denied. He can remember the confusion, and secret elation, he felt as he tried to figure out why he would matter so much to her, why his . . . his pain would matter to her.  
  
She gave a small laugh. _"Do you want to be here or do you want to do what other kids do?"_ she asked, a smile playing about those beautiful lips.  
  
_"What do other kids do?"_ he had asked, confused by even the thought of a choice.  
  
She laughed again, a small delicate sound, her smile staying this time. _"Play. Have fun. Experience life,"_ she had reeled off, like the list of possibilities was endless. Her voice promised pleasures unknown.  
  
_"Is this a simulation?"_ He cringed, remembering his insecurity, his fear of the unknown.  
  
_"No. No, this is real,"_ she had assured him, earnestly.  
  
_"I'm doing what I want to do. Sims to help others,"_ he had reassured her, aware of his duty and parroting those very terms that Mr. Raines had pounded into him, time and time again.  
  
_"Then why were you crying?"  
_  
_"I . . . I wasn't . . . I just."_ Panic, pure and simple panic. That was the only way to describe the feelings flooding through him at that moment. Panic that he would be punished for having emotions. Panic that he would be alone again. Panic that she would leave him. He had been unable to continue looking at her as he felt the tears begin again.  
  
_"It's okay."_ She got up and moved closer to him, the scent of her perfume and the warmth of her body reaching him first as she sat beside him on the bed, her hand soft and calming on his arm. _"It's okay."_  
  
_"If Mr. Raines finds out, he'll get angry and when he gets angry, he . . . he . . . "_ He couldn't say it out loud, all the horrors, the pure terror that Mr. Raines had visited upon him stuck in his throat. How could he admit to her what had been done to him? She didn't deserve to know about such things. He had to protect her from what Mr. Raines could and would do to those who disappointed him.  
  
_"I won't let him hurt you anymore, I promise."_ She had hugged him closer, her gentleness amazing to him. The feel of her soft lips against his forehead, the warm shelter of her arm around his shoulders, he had been stunned. _"We've got to get you out of here,"_ she had declared and for one brief moment he had allowed himself to feel hope. Hope that she wanted him. Hope that she would take him away from Mr. Raines. Hope that he could stay with her.  
  
He felt her lightly tap his right shoulder, a touch without rancor, with . . . affection?  
  
_"He's not going anywhere with you,"_ Mr. Raines had come upon them, his raspy voice the sound nightmares were made of, and he remembered knowing with a certainty that he had never known before, that he would never see her again.   
  
He could feel those dreaded tears start again and hugged himself tighter as he listened to Jarod's voice, a precursor to his own tones in the years to come, say her name, "Miss Parker." 


	4. Confrontations

For a Genius . . . Part 4 - Confrontation  
  
Disclaimer: Still not mine and when are the DVDs going to be released to America?  
  
Note: I guess I should have put this on Part One - but this takes place Post IOTH

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Gemini listened to Jarod's pacing until he couldn't take it anymore. With a sigh, he climbed out of bed. In a twisted way he had total empathy for Jarod's strange sleep patterns. Both of them had been trained to survive and function with little to no sleep for extended periods of time and both of them were plagued with nightmares of one form or another, though he knew his nightmares were less intense than Jarod's both in frequency and content, he understood the reluctance, at times, to lay his head on a pillow and, perchance, to dream.  
  
He joined his brother, as he really thought of him, in the kitchen. Jarod's partially clothed form was highlighted by the light flowing from the open refrigerator door as he contemplated what, if anything, he wanted to eat.  
  
Gemini sighed again, this time loudly enough to be heard.   
  
Jarod tilted his head just enough to visually identify the person standing in the doorway, but he had already known who stood there. They had a connection after all, some sort of twin-bond.  
  
"Anything good?" Gemini asked irrelevantly. Neither his nor Jarod's appetites really had a stopping point.  
  
"Still some ice cream left, but we'll have to restock tomorrow if we eat it tonight," Jarod pointed out, now closing the refrigerator door and opening the freezer section. He shot an amused grin at his brother and cocked an eyebrow questioningly.  
  
Gemini returned the exact same grin. "That's what tomorrow is for, right?"  
  
With a muffled chuckle, Jarod pulled out the remaining two pints, closed the door and reached into a drawer for two spoons.  
  
Gemini waited eagerly at the table.  
  
The two of them dipped in companionable silence for several moments, just enjoying the taste of freedom that ice cream represented to them both.  
  
Finally, Gemini broached the subject that had gotten him out of bed. "Why do you torment her so?"  
  
Jarod paused, the spoon halfway to his mouth as he processed the accusation and it had been an accusation. "Who?" he asked cooly, putting the spoon and its precious cargo back into the pint container.  
  
"Miss Parker, of course," Gemini unnecessarily explained.  
  
Jarod considered denying the charge, but realized it would be futile. "Don't you think 'torment' is a rather strong word?" he asked, instead, feeling the phrase too harsh for his exchanges with his beautiful, but unreachable huntress.  
  
"Torment, distress, torture, agonize, rack, afflict, punish, pick one," Gemini offered magnanimously. "Why do you do it?"  
  
TBC

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Thanks to Roget for the many forms of torment = 


	5. Decisions

For a Genius . . . - Part 5 - Decisions  
  
Sorry for the brevity of the postings. This is my first Pretender fanfiction and I am feeling my way through the cast =  
  
Thank you to everyone who as given me reviews and encouragement.

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Jarod picked up the spoon and fed himself some more ice cream, deliberately taking his time before answering Gemini's question. "Look, G, Miss Parker and I, we have an . . . a well, complicated, kind of love/hate relationship," he started, pausing to think how to best answer or even if he wanted to answer the charge.  
  
Gemini rolled his eyes as he listened to his brother start his series of excuses. "How complicated can it be? If you treated her nicer, maybe she'd be nicer to you."  
  
Jarod put his spoon down. "It's not that simple . . . ," he started.  
  
"I met her, you know."  
  
Jarod sat up straight, his shock clearly registered on his face. "What? When? At the Centre?" he shot the questions at Gemini.  
  
Gemini noted his brother's reactions with amusement. "Calm down, Jarod. Yes, at the Centre. Where else would I have met her, at the mall?"  
  
Jarod raked his fingers through his hair and stood to start pacing the kitchen. "At the Centre. You met her at the Centre," he mumbled to himself, his eyes focusing on something in the past. Suddenly, he spun around, facing Gemini with an intense look. "Were you in a plastic room? Was it some sort of test?" he asked anxiously, already seeing how they would be curious to find out if the next generation's reactions were the same. Gemini had already told him how Sydney had walked him through some of Jarod's previous simulations for comparison. What if they wanted to . . .  
  
Gemini arched an eyebrow in speculation, his mind seeking the cause of Jarod's agitation. "A plastic room? What are you talking about?" he asked, bewildered.  
  
Jarod sighed and forced himself to concentrate on the here-and-now, to find out the answers before his speculations grew to unmanageable proportions. "When you met her, was it as a test?" he calmly stated, holding his breath for the answer.  
  
"No," Gemini shook his head and ate another spoonful of ice cream, hiding the smile beginning to form on his lips. Jarod was certainly behaving rather erratically for someone who had a 'complicated' relationship with Miss Parker. It was amusing, actually.  
  
"Then how did you meet her?" Jarod asked, sitting back down with an inaudible sigh. So, they hadn't run that test on him. That was a small grace anyway.  
  
"She came down to see me, snuck in my room, actually," Gemini replied, as though his words were not shocking, while he peeked to see the effect on Jarod.  
  
Jarod's eyes narrowed and his chin jutted out a little. "She came down to see you?" he asked, weakly.  
  
"Yes," Gemini nodded, fighting to keep the grin off of his face. "She was very nice to me, actually. Comforting, soft, warm, sweet even."  
  
Jarod dropped his spoon and looked at his brother as though he had just said, 'Oh, and Dad's really Mom, he just had a sex change and didn't know how to tell you.' "She was . . . sweet?" he repeated, the idea obviously extremely foreign to him.  
  
Gemini nodded again. "Yes. She told me that she couldn't look away from my pain. She was going to get me out of there, but then you broke me out." He put down his spoon and decided to go for broke, deliberately putting a dreamy expression on his face, actually not hard to do when he thought of Miss Parker. "When she kissed me, I . . ."  
  
"She **KISSED** you!?!" Jarod interrupted, standing upright so quickly he knocked his chair over onto the floor with a bang.  
  
"Keep your voice down, Ethan and Dad are sleeping," Gemini scolded his brother, his amusement fading somewhat at the thought of waking the rest of the household.  
  
"Sorry," Jarod mumbled and righted the chair quietly, retaking his seat. "What do you mean when she kissed you . . . ?" he hissed, but in a more subdued tone.  
  
"She kissed me to comfort me, Jarod. Right here." He pointed at his forehead, at the spot where, for one brief moment, he felt that special comfort only a woman could bestow. "But, you know," he started, remembering his plan. "She smelled very good and her lips were very soft and her body was . . ."  
  
"That's enough," Jarod's voice cut off his memories rather abruptly.  
  
"Warm," Gemini finished defiantly.   
  
The two of them played with their ice cream for a moment or two longer, in silence, dead silence, before Gemini started Phase Two.  
  
"You know. I'll be 18 soon."  
  
"Yes. It is a momentous time for you."  
  
"And, I've read that men peak sexually between 18 and 20," Gemini continued.  
  
"Yes?" this time answered a little more hesitantly.  
  
"And you know how I've read the Kama Sutra?"  
  
"What does this have to do with our previous conversation?" Jarod asked warily, not trusting the deliberately innocent look on his brother's face.  
  
"Well, I think I know what I want for my 18th birthday," Gemini stated with an evil grin.  
  
TBC 


	6. Urges

Disclaimer: Still not mine =  
  
Thank you all for your responses. I'm curious is this getting to the point where I should change my rating to "R" or is it still safe as a "PG-13"? I don't know FanFiction.Net that well.

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Part 6: Urges  
  
Jarod choked on his spoon, literally.  
  
Gemini proved his genetic material by immediately grasping the situation and the spoon. He yanked it from Jarod's mouth while administering a hearty slap on the back, which he secretly had to admit he rather enjoyed.  
  
"You okay?" he asked in genuine concern.  
  
Jarod nodded and got up to get himself a glass of water.  
  
"What are you two doing?" a sleepy voice queried from the doorway. "Oh, ice cream," Ethan answered his own question with two words that seemed to cover a variety of sins.  
  
Gemini grimaced and glanced apologetically at his other brother. "I'm sorry, did we wake you?"  
  
Ethan shrugged instead of answering and rubbed a hand over his eyes. He wandered into the kitchen to sit down at the table with his brothers. "Why are you two still up? Everything okay?"   
  
Jarod swallowed his water and immediately answered the automatic question. "Yes, everything is fine," he assured Ethan. He glanced at Gemini and then back at Ethan. "G here was just telling me he wanted to be with Miss Parker for his birthday."  
  
"Really?" Ethan smiled sleepily and innocently. "I wouldn't mind seeing her myself. Maybe the two of us could figure out a way to be with her?" he suggested, waking up a little more at the idea of seeing his sister again.  
  
Gemini wisely put down his spoon and Jarod most carefully put his glass on the counter before either of them looked at the other. As soon as their identical eyes met, the muffled laughter ricocheted around the room, much to Ethan's bewilderment.  
  
"What? What did I say?"  
  
The two men had to look away from each other to finally get themselves under control.  
  
Gemini was quite pleased that Jarod's attempt to embarrass him or, at least, make him uncomfortable had backfired so wonderfully. It also told him that his brother had taken the bait. Now for phase three. He waited. After all, Jarod was a self-starter.  
  
"Sorry about that Ethan. No, what I meant was that G was indicating he wanted to be with Miss Parker . . . er . . . romantically," Jarod supplied, his earlier amusement fading at the thought.  
  
"Romantically?" Ethan looked at Gemini confused, his brow furrowed as he pondered Jarod's delicate wording. Then his face cleared as the meaning dawned on him. "Oh. Oh, romantically." This time the look Ethan bestowed on Gemini was strangely neutral. It didn't make any sense. When the two brothers had first met and became friends, Gemini had admitted to having a crush on Miss Parker but as time went on and Ethan was able to supply more information to the younger pretender the crush had gradually changed to more of a regard for a sister than as a woman. They had discussed this, in fact. So, now what was happening?  
  
Gemini looked at Ethan wondering if he would blow his plans or play along.  
  
"Well, don't you have anything to say? She's your sister," Jarod prodded, expecting, hoping, for some form of protest from Ethan. He knew that his brothers were close, having spent a lot of time together and on the run together. Fleeing for your life together tends to bond people.  
  
Ethan looked down at his hands, clasped together on the table, and back up at Jarod. "Hm, it is an interesting development, but not surprising. Miss Parker is a beautiful woman after all."  
  
"True," Gemini agreed, inwardly sighing with relief.  
  
"And she certainly is vital and vibrant with all the normal urges, I'm sure." He grinned. "In fact, knowing her with all the unnormal urges as well."  
  
Gemini looked interested. "Really? Maybe I should read _**Venus In Furs**_?" 


	7. Talking About Women

Disclaimer: Still not mine =

Thanks for the rating responses and the feedback

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"G!" Jarod chided, sharply, though quietly, fidgeting uncomfortably in his chair.  
  
Ethan and Gemini watched their brother in silence, each pondering his reaction.  
  
Gemini suffered a twinge of conscience. He thought back to his memories from earlier in the evening. Meeting Miss Parker had taught him to ache with loneliness. A loneliness Jarod felt as well? Maybe Jarod didn't deserve this manipulation? Maybe the two of them were not meant to be together? Maybe Jarod was relating to Miss Parker in the only way he could?   
  
Then Gemini noticed that Ethan had closed his eyes and tilted his head as he had a habit to do when he was listening to his inner sense. After a moment he nodded and opened his eyes to look at his brothers.  
  
"What did you hear? Is everything okay?" Jarod had also noticed the stillness that seemed to surround Ethan. He knew that Ethan's inner sense could be cryptic at times.  
  
"Not yet, but it will be," Ethan replied cheerfully with an intense look at Gemini.  
  
Gemini took heart from Ethan's encouragement and cast his doubts aside. "So, we were talking about women," he reopened the conversation. "Speaking of women . . . what happened to Zoe?"  
  
Jarod stiffened.   
  
"Oh come on, Jarod. It's just us guys," Gemini chided him, watching the vein in Jarod's forehead throb. "Why did you break up with Zoe anyway?"  
  
Jarod fixed his best glare on Gemini who met it with a grin of amusement, not intimidated at all.  
  
Ethan broke the impasse with a soft sigh. "I have to admit that I'm curious about that as well. What happened on the Island, Jarod?" he asked the softer question.  
  
Jarod broke his staring contest with his youngest brother and glanced at Ethan before looking down at his ice cream. "I missed mom by minutes. You know that."  
  
"And that caused you to break up with Zoe?"  
  
"No." He sighed. "We didn't really break up. Not really. It's just that . . . we agreed that we wanted different things and we parted company, that's all. No big emotional scenes," Jarod stressed, deliberately not mentioning that moment with Zoe and the tears. Tears that he caused and tears that he could not stop or deny. Just as he could no longer deny the emotions that tormented him in regard to Miss Parker. It wasn't fair to Zoe to be with her while he was thinking of Miss Parker. That was one exorcism he needed to perform first. Then he could get on with his life.  
  
There was a moment of silence around the table as the three of them thought about Jarod's words. All of them knowing/sensing there had been more to it than what litte he had said.  
  
"So," Gemini stretched out the word, breaking the silence. "Back to Miss Parker," he redirected the conversation back to his favorite topic, ignoring Jarod's tiny whimper of protest.   
  
"Oh come on, Jarod," Gemini chided again, with an apologetic glance at Ethan. "Don't tell me you've never thought of her that way. After all," he paused and considered for a moment, knowing his phrasing had to be just right. "She's a dream woman, isn't she? A tall, slender, leggy woman with a penchant for leather with sharp claws and a sharper tongue. The perfect dominant."  
  
Jarod glared at Gemini, internally shocked by Gemini's precise quoting of his description of Miss Parker during his 'interrogation' of Mr. Broots while chasing Alex.  
  
Ethan chuckled. "That's an interesting description, quite apt I would think."   
  
"I think she might be interested in having her own Pretender to train," Gemini picked up the goading. Turning slightly in his chair, he looked at Jarod. "Just between us men," he nodded at Ethan and looked back to Jarod. "That's what you do, isn't it? You study each woman you want and then you give her what she wants? You become her dream lover? Is that something I could do for Miss Parker? Become the man of her dreams? After all, I'm young, strong, full of stamina, certainly eager and . . ." he paused before he slipped in the knife, "I look just like her childhood sweetheart. I figure I'm a **GO**."


	8. What She Needs

For a Genius . . . Part 8

Disclaimer: Still not my property, still doing this without permission. Sigh. If only =

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"Dammit, G! Don't talk about her like that," Jarod protested vehemently. "She's not some Mrs. Robinson wanna-be waiting for a young stud to drop in her lap."  
  
Gemini started to ask, 'Who?' but refrained, afraid to stop Jarod's tirade and, hopefully, realization.  
  
"She needs a man who is not afraid of her, who respects her strength, her focus and intensity," Jarod extrapolated. "She needs a man who will understand that sometimes she just needs to be a bitch without fearing that she will overwhelm him. She also needs a man who will let her be vulnerable without making her feel she is weak. A man who sees beyond her physical beauty to the emotional beauty of her soul. A man who will protect her and allow her to protect him. Someone who shares with her the knowledge of torment and the triumph of survival. She needs . . ." Jarod trailed off, suddenly, intensely, aware of the looks he was receiving from his listeners.  
  
"She needs you?" Ethan suggested quietly in the void.  
  
"She needs you," Gemini stated more positively.  
  
"She needs . . . me," Jarod acknowledged weakly, his brown eyes shining with newly realized knowledge. "She needs me," he stated more clearly, more determinedly, more confidently.  
  
"She needs me." Jarod stood, forgetting his ice cream and walked out of the kitchen. A man on a mission.  
  
Ethan and Gemini glanced at each other and sighed.  
  
"At last," they murmured together and then grinned at the absurdity of it all.  
  
Gemini thought back to the woman who had brought the idea of hope into his life, waking him up to emotion at long last. He hoped he was able to return her good deed in some measure.  
  
**The End**

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Remember, this was just about Gemini and his thoughts about Miss Parker =  
  
Thank you to everyone who encouraged me. I appreciate your taking the time and effort to keep me going to finish my very first Pretender fanfic. 


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